Adhere to one-China principle: Chinese student group’s vow in wake of uni protest clash

A Chinese student group has backed “reunification of the motherland” after a student clash at a Qld university.

Protesters clash at the University of Queensland on Wednesday.

A major Chinese student association at the University of Queensland (UQ) has vowed to “adhere to the one-China principle” after Chinese students clashed with pro-Hong Kong protesters at university yesterday.

The UQ Chinese Student and Scholar Association last night issued a statement via its official account on a popular Chinese social media platform WeChat, declaring they “firmly support the reunification of the motherland”.

It followed a major campus stand-off between supporters of Hong Kong against China’s influence, and Chinese students, mainly from mainland China.

Hundreds of students had gathered in the university’s Great Court afternoon to express their solidarity with Hong Kong when their demonstration was gatecrashed by pro-Chinese students, with punches exchanged between the two groups, with police forced to intervene.

The association reminded fellow Chinese students to “avoid conflicts with dissidents” and be restrained.

Students were urged to report any conflict to the police, and the Chinese Consulate.

Videos and images of the clash were circulated on Chinese social media last night, and the University of Queensland’s official account on Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Facebook and Twitter, were flooded by Chinese internet users.

“I’m disgusted that the university I attend backs Hong Kong independence supporters demonstration”, one posted, while others called on the university to protect Chinese students’ safety.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said they unaware of the campus confrontation when asked if they thought the incident would “affect China’s image overseas”, suggesting the question was “highly misleading”.

“You should first ask this question: Has what certain people in Hong Kong did affected its image in the world? Is what they said or did good for Hong Kong’s image as a peaceful and prosperous place?” said spokesperson Hua Chunying, according to conference minutes.

There are fears the campus confrontation risks intensifying anger towards Australia among Chinese internet users which has escalated since Australian swimmer Mack Horton staged a protest against Chinese swimmer Sun Yang at the world swimming championships in South Korea.

Australian Olympic swimming legend Dawn Fraser’s criticism of Sun, in which she said he should not have been allowed to compete, was trending as the No. 1 topic on Weibo on Thursday morning.

It had received 260 million views and 42,000 comments, with some comments condemning Australia as ”anti-China”.